Friday, August 22, 2014Last Update: 6:17 AM PT

Ex-Qualcomm Exec Admits to Inside Trading

SAN DIEGO (CN) - A former sales director for Qualcomm pleaded guilty Thursday to making $29,300 from illegal inside trading, federal prosecutors said. Robert William Herman, 52, of San Diego, was a director in Qualcomm's North American Sales Department when he did the deed, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Herman admitted in his plea agreement that he heard around the office that Qualcomm was considering buying Atheros Communications - and that that information was secret. He bought 4,000 shares of Atheros at $37.17 a share and sold them all after the acquisition was announced, for a profit of $29,318, according to the U.S. attorney. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined up to $5 million at his Nov. 14 sentencing.